ignite these sparks
by quorra laraex
Summary: His touch is electric and he sets her heart on fire. — Sasuke/Sakura


**ignite these sparks**

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It begins when they are young and small and helpless, all fragile bones and happiness. There are no worries, no grudges, nothing to threaten the beauty of their adolescence – not yet, at least. It is a time before bloodshed, before corruption, before the murdering of innocence. It is before they know the true meaning of horror.

She is crying.

(because she is small, frail, pitiful)

She cries for the little things that won't matter in a day or two – because she is still weak and she feels so, very hurt.

(if only she knew just about how strong she was destined to become, the silly girl)

The boy doesn't laugh and point, nor does he scoff and mind his own business. Instead, when he finds her in all her teary-eyed glory, he gives her a genuine smile. He makes his way over to her, that girl he goes to school with – the one with bubblegum hair and lily pad eyes. He pokes her forehead with his (so, so) small forefinger and hopes that in return, she'll have a smile identical to his. The simple contact is enough for the butterflies to kick in beneath her ribcage.

It's all simple gestures and no words. It's not as if they ever needed words, anyway.

/

They are on team seven, and his touch is instinctive.

His fingers encircle the small of her wrists to stop her from trying to protect him.

It is simple and it is enough to see heat bloom in the apples of her cheeks.

He doesn't need her protection, he thinks.

/

In the Forest of Death, her embrace is all that keeps the curse from spreading further.

(her arms are snaked around his consumed frame, igniting his sense of humanity, his will, his strength, dragging him away from the trail of insanity)

He realizes that he might have been wrong.

/

The next time, it's more mandatory than anything.

(that's what he likes to think – but really, who's he kidding)

Gaara slams her against the tree, and her shrill screams are almost unbearable for his own ears.

(it only drives the need to kill the sand ninja even more)

It'll have to do after he catches her in his leap.

/

He is weak and he hates himself for it. They have an unlimited amount of gratitude for his efforts, for his help, for being a member of their team. They thank him, offer him friendship, love and care and things that are long forgotten and meaningless.

(even when he is spineless and pathetic and _nothing_ compared to his older brother)

He is on a fucking hospital bed when he shouldn't be.

She is crying and the blonde is watching and when he sits up—

(all dark hair and cold eyes and patheticpathetic_pathetic_)

—she bursts into his cloud of self-pity and utter realization, throwing her long arms around him in an embrace that's all too familiar.

/

And then she is confessing the things he already knows, trying to remind him of the good whilst between tears.

(she is _Sakura_ and she is good at crying)

He listens quietly, wordless and almost glum.

(he is _Sasuke_ and all he can do is wait for her to finish)

In a blink, he stands behind her and she feels his presence.

(so close – he is so close)

She is afraid of not being able to feel his chakra.

"_Sakura_," he thinks that this will be the last time her name rolls off his tongue.

(a name so sweet and pretty and innocent – it'll remind him of home and a life he could've chosen)

"Thank you."

He gets her in the nerve and watches her sink to the ground before his feet. He picks her up, placing her on the bench they had once sat on days and weeks and months before. His eyes sweep over her once more, barely lasting four seconds – and he leaves.

/

The striking sensation is in his fingertips, and with one blow, he knows she won't be able to walk for days – let alone, breathe properly.

His touch is electric and he sets her heart on fire.

His hands are large and calloused. His knuckles are bruised and his nails are dirty. His fingers are also wrapped around her neck and he's squeezing – tightening his grip without hesitation, and he forgets every ounce of humanity he had had before this very moment.

(everyone betrays him, anyway. it's about time her moment had come)

And then their eyes meet, if only for a second because she's back to struggling in his grip and he sees those lilypads begin to roll back in desperate acquiescence, pulling him into uncertainty. He lets one hand free. This isn't how he wants to kill her, he thinks.

He swipes her hidden kunai from where she'd been stashing it.

(she shouldn't die by his own hands – instead, by her own blade)

(it would ease his guilt in the future, even if only for a short while)

/

She trembles at the sight of him, feeling her breath hitch when those piercing red pools that she had thought she'd (wanted to have) forgotten are on hers the minute he is in her presence. Her heart drums in her chest and a trickle of sweat drips on the left side of her face. She croaks out his name, and she sounds just as pathetic as she had been at thirteen.

(she remembers knobby knees and acts of love and the Chuunin exams)

But she is not afraid of him; she never had been.

And she never will be.

He notices this for himself when she allows herself to stumble into his arms, drained of the chakra she had used to save him.

(_him _– the one who had left her after that haunting declaration of love and infatuation and everything in between, the one who had held her life in his hands and her kunai a split second away from porcelain skin, all bruised and battered and aching and unready for the electricity coursing through the veins of his fingers; _he_, the one who was undeserving of her saving)

He keeps her against his chest and she thinks that if she had even an ounce of energy within her body, she would be able to feel the flames of her heart doing things it shouldn't be at his touch.

And then, with his sharingan, he'll heal her, and she'll whisper—_Sasuke-kun_—as her chakra restores and everything black and blue and purple and bloodied will begin to fade. He doesn't say her name in return. Frankly, he doesn't say a thing to her at all.

He doesn't need to.

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_fin._

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**_a/n:** this is kind pointless and a pretty terrible excuse for a fic but i just kind of wanted to write _something_, especially with the new chapters and all...so sorry if it sucked lol

but if you did enjoy it or something id love to hear what you think. reviews are nice...and if you fav, please review haha


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